What was your secret to extending short naps?

dazidog

For those of you who have LO's who took short cat naps (30-45 min) did you find a method that worked well for making the naps longer? Or did it just happen on it's own?

DD used to nap in the wrap while I worked around the house, she would sleep 1-2 hours consistently. She would however usually wake up around the 30 minute mark and look around for a mintue then fall back asleep.

I have transitioned her to the crib for her naps. She is doing great except for the fact her naps are now so short and I can't seem to find a way to get her to sleep longer. I can tell she is still tired and she is getting fussy so quickly.

Any tips?

laurakaz13

I don't know, but tell me if you ever figure it out.  My LO takes about three 30-45 minute naps per day. 

She crawls and cruises already, so she's burning tons of calories.  She also sleeps 11-12 hrs a night.  So I'm not complaining.  But she just doesn't seem to need to nap much. 

MainSt

I would like to know if there is a 'secret' as well lol.  DS has never napped more than 45 mins (usually 20-30); however, nights got great here around 4 months so no complaints from me either, just curious.

Mrs.EMS

LO did this for a month but we are working on a more consistant scheudule. It took about a week but we kind of let her CIO but it really wasn't CIO. She would go down for a nap a little crabby then get up 45 minutes later talking and "ahh"ing. I would go in thinking she was done.. big mistake. so now  we let her fuss a little then she'll go back to sleep for another 45. Sometimes it worked and sometime not. I am not a big fan of CIO 100% but i get the idea... my interpretation is if you go in everytime she makes a noise you maybe interupting her cycle and she won't "learn" to roll over and go back to sleep... just like us, we wake up but roll over and go back to sleep. Imagine if as soon as you woke up you had someone in your facing talking to you and touching you.

 I know I am gong to get flack for this becasue of all the posts  but i thought i would share

ITGurl0626

Mrs.EMS:

LO did this for a month but we are working on a more consistant scheudule. It took about a week but we kind of let her CIO but it really wasn't CIO. She would go down for a nap a little crabby then get up 45 minutes later talking and "ahh"ing. I would go in thinking she was done.. big mistake. so now  we let her fuss a little then she'll go back to sleep for another 45. Sometimes it worked and sometime not. I am not a big fan of CIO 100% but i get the idea... my interpretation is if you go in everytime she makes a noise you maybe interupting her cycle and she won't "learn" to roll over and go back to sleep... just like us, we wake up but roll over and go back to sleep. Imagine if as soon as you woke up you had someone in your facing talking to you and touching you.

 I know I am gong to get flack for this becasue of all the posts  but i thought i would share

ITA...my LO would wake up talking & I would often think she was done sleeping too.  Now I wait about 10 - 15 minutes to see if she is really up, most of the time she falls right back to sleep.

Hopeful1!

Mrs.EMS:

LO did this for a month but we are working on a more consistant scheudule. It took about a week but we kind of let her CIO but it really wasn't CIO. She would go down for a nap a little crabby then get up 45 minutes later talking and "ahh"ing. I would go in thinking she was done.. big mistake. so now  we let her fuss a little then she'll go back to sleep for another 45. Sometimes it worked and sometime not. I am not a big fan of CIO 100% but i get the idea... my interpretation is if you go in everytime she makes a noise you maybe interupting her cycle and she won't "learn" to roll over and go back to sleep... just like us, we wake up but roll over and go back to sleep. Imagine if as soon as you woke up you had someone in your facing talking to you and touching you.

 I know I am gong to get flack for this becasue of all the posts  but i thought i would share

 

This

 

NeverEnoughTime

My LO used to take 4 - 5 45min naps.  He transitioned on his own over a few days (about 2 weeks ago).  He now naps a pretty consistant 1h20mins. Ocassionally he throws a 2 hour nap in there, just to keep me on my feet.

ETA: he sleeps 12-13 hours a night.

skio

Just patience.

DD consistently napped for no more than 35 minutes for a good 3-4 months straight. There was no way to force her to sleep longer. Slowly, she started sleeping longer for her morning nap...one day it would be over an hour, the next three days it would be back to 35 mins, then it would be two hours. Now, her morning nap is consistently 1-2 hours. Her afternoon nap is still 35-45 mins.

Kapinker

I was having the same issue with DD.  I would set the timer on my phone and it was amazing that she would wake up between 38-43 minutes EVERY nap!!  I read some where that infant sleep cycles are only 40 minutes long and that some babies will wake up at that 40 minute marker instead of going into a deeper sleep.  The website I was reading (which I can't find now) had recommended going into the room at 35 minutes and patting their bottom to help them stay asleep until they learned to soothe themselves and go back to sleep on their own.  I never tried partly because I was afraid I was just going to wake her up myself but aslo because DD figured it out that day and her next nap was a wonderful hour and half!  For the most part her naps have stayed at about an hour and a half now.  She only sleeps through the night when my husband puts her to bed though, when I put her to bed she gets up 2 or 3 times a night to eat.  Anyone else's LO get up/sleep through the night depending on what parent puts them to bed?

JsMama11

Tummy sleeping. J never napped for more than 30 mins until he decided sleeping on his tummy was comfortable. Now I get a 1 hour morning nap and a 1-2 afternoon nap every day. It's a beautiful thing.

Lisa Frank

When we moved to a 4 hour routine, her naps significantly increased from 45 minutes to about 1.5-2 hours each.